Honor throws shade at Samsung with bold claim: “Thin without the catch”

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge made headlines with its razor-thin 5.8mm body, touted as “beyond slim” and packed with flagship-grade specs.

Honor is turning up the heat on Samsung, challenging the Korean tech giant's latest pride point, ultra-thin smartphone design — with a not-so-subtle jab at the newly launched Galaxy S25 Edge. In a cheeky teaser, the Chinese brand has claimed its upcoming Magic V3 foldable is slimmer than Samsung’s sleekest handset ever, and it’s not afraid to say why that matters.

The brand’s latest teaser claims the Magic V3 unfolds to just 4.35mm, making it even thinner than the S25 Edge.(Bloomberg)

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge made headlines with its razor-thin 5.8mm body, touted as “beyond slim” and packed with flagship-grade specs. Featuring a 200MP main camera, Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and a 3,900mAh battery, the phone is being marketed as the epitome of style meeting performance in a compact form.

But Honor isn’t buying it

The brand’s latest teaser claims the Magic V3 unfolds to just 4.35mm, making it even thinner than the S25 Edge, albeit when open. Accompanied by the tagline “THIN without the catch,” Honor takes a clear swipe at Samsung’s design philosophy, suggesting that being slim shouldn’t mean making compromises.

Bigger Battery, No Trade-offs?

Honor didn’t just stop at measurements. The company highlighted a larger 5,150mAh battery in the Magic V3, indicating that its engineering prowess allows it to balance thinness with practical power. While it left out camera specifics and chipset details, the implication is that performance remains competitive, and perhaps more balanced than Samsung’s approach.

The message is clear: thin is good, but not at the cost of battery life, camera versatility, or charging speed — areas where Samsung’s latest Edge may have made trade-offs in pursuit of slimness.

Foldable vs Flat: A Context Check

However, context matters. The Galaxy S25 Edge is a slab-style smartphone, while the Magic V3 is a foldable, and the 4.35mm figure refers to its thickness when unfolded — not when folded shut. In practice, foldables tend to be bulkier in folded mode, and durability is still a work in progress for the category.

Even so, Honor’s teaser sets the stage for a showdown not just on specs, but on design philosophy. As smartphones get thinner, brands are increasingly being challenged to prove they haven’t cut corners in the process. And Honor clearly wants consumers to ask: what did you lose to go slim?

With the Magic V3 expected to launch soon, all eyes will be on whether Honor can back up the bravado — or if its punchy marketing is more style than substance.